As some of you are aware, the ulc. org site changed hands in August 2006. Due to a series of unconfirmed circumstances, there was an abrupt change of who controlled the ulc. org domain name and site. It is currently in the control of George Freeman and his associates, currently signing the site as 'Br. Martin' and using a variety of websites, most notably 'themonastery.org.' (He has discussed having a night club back in the 70's. Information about that can be found through the link above.) The circumstances of this change were in dispute among the parties in the court system. With so many people asking questions, I felt it necessary to add a page to the Seminary site to let people know what's going on.

****For a list of who owns which domains, so you can be sure you are supporting the group of your choice, please click DOMAINS.

For many years, the ulc. org site was owned by Daniel Zimmerman. Many of you have had dealings with him and have formed your own opinions as to his honesty and integrity. According to Daniel, George was his best friend. Until August 2006, the ulc. org site (known as The Monastery) was an authorized site affiliated with headquarters. Daniel is now deceased.

As of August 1, 2006, that domain is no longer affiliated with headquarters. From that point on, if you were ordained at the ulc.org site, your ordination was not sent to headquarters, nor were you recorded as being a legal minister with the Universal Life Church. If you have any links on your own website to the ulc.org site, I strongly urge you to change the links to www.ulcseminary.org, or to headquarters, to avoid sending anyone to a site that might confuse people as to its true intentions and origins. From Aug 1, 2006 forward, George Freeman created an entirely different Monastery, a brand new corporation - separate from any than came before and separate from the original Universal Life Church in Modesto. He also re-directed the domain to a new location, making it the new resting place for the new site.

The new site still implies a connection and history between themselves and ULC Headquarters in Modesto, but no such affiliation exists. They are not the site which had been affiliated with headquarters. Same address, but not in any way the same monastery. This has been causing a lot of confusion and misunderstandings among the ministers of the ULC and we hope that, over time, word will spread and those who wish to affiliate with the original ULC will do just that. I believe that Andre Hensley, at headquarters, will be issuing (or may have already issued) a press release, Wikipedia has been changed, and the word is spreading.

From Kevin Andrews' site that explains the split, I'll add this quote: "Another useful way to independently verify who you are dealing with is to use Googlemaps to see for yourself what is located at their address. Click here to see on Googlemaps what is located at the address of the real Universal Life Church in Modesto. Or click here to take a look at the location of one of the more popular knock-off groups. Or click here to see what you will actually find at the "headquarters" of the knock-off group in Florida!"

Any products you purchase from that site do not have the sanction of headquarters, nor the blessing of the Bureau for Private Postsecondary and Vocational Education, so proceed with that awareness.

ULCNETWORK - Another person I get a lot of questions about is one 'Michael Cauley'. He operates a site by the name of the ulcnetwork. He started appearing sometimes in early 2010, I believe, when the monastery made the unfortunate decision to hire him to run their forum or network or something.

During his time with them, he spent an inordinate amount of time saying unkind and untrue things about the Seminary, ULC Online (ulc.net), and headquarters in Modesto (ulchq.com). He claims he did it because the monastery told him to. After he had been repeatedly accused (justifiably) of harrassing members of the ulc - anyone who disagreed with him in any way shape or form, the monastery decided to fire him. MC then claims he quit, then began calling and emailing ministers ordained through the monastery, telling them they needed to be re-ordained through his site.

He then added the monastery to his hit list of people to bombard with his negativity. He opened his own website, started charging people for ordinations (when ULC ordinations have ALWAYS been free) and claimed that those who were not Christian ministers, following his site, were likely going to burn in hell, as was reported to me repeatedly. He denies that the rap sheet under his name and location is his, then he agrees it is, but it is irrelevent.

We, at the Seminary, do what we can to avoid him at all costs. He has personally sent me numerous toxic emails and has called and ranted at both male and female ministers in the ULC. His actions are being recorded and monitored by several groups until the appropriate time to take action comes about.

Please remember that ordinations with the ULC are free and legal, the Seminary offers many courses in Christianity, as well as spirituality and various Pagan belief systems. MC likes to claim he is the only 'faith-based' ULC in existence. Apparently, with all of his postings, he seems to have missed the hundreds of thousands of ULC faith-based websites all over the internet. Please ignore any and all things he says. He makes questionable claims in 'press releases', then calls and tells our ministers that their ordinations are in question. If you were ordained through the seminary, headquarters (ulchq.com), ulc.net or the ulc.org site before August of 2006, then your ordination is absolutely secure and legal. Also, only a very few states require that you show proof of ordination to perform weddings.

If you are worried in any way that your ordination is in question, please re-ordain yourself on this site or at headquarters directly. Only those ordinations done after Aug. 1st, 2006, on the ulc.org site are in question, if your intention is to affiliate yourself with the Universal Life Church. To affiliate yourself with this site, please make sure you are signed up to receive the newsletter so you will be kept abreast of everything happening with the ulc.

We, at the Seminary, are not concerning ourselves with the activities of the monastery or its affiliates. We are interested in creating a community, giving education and support to our ministers and to being genuine with our intentions. If these goals coincide with yours, then I hope you've found a home here. Kevin Andrews, from ulc.net, works with us regularly to achieve that goal.

I hope this answers your questions. If you have any others, please feel free to ask me at amy@ulcseminary.org.

If you have any questions or comments about this that you'd like to add to your FB wall, please post it here.